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March 27, 2005

More guster pics

Happy guster

When we went outside for our first annual easter egg hunt, we didn't even need to tell Gus what to do. He just started going for the eggs.

That was the easy part.

Getting Gus to let them go and put them in the basket? Not so easy.

See, there is some kind of comfort in holding an egg in each hand. Haven't tried it myself lately, but it seemed to pull Gus into a quiet place. Perhaps this is the cure for all our ailments.

We roasted our first leg of lamb today. I thought it would be hard to roast, but it was incredibly easy...and yummy. We now have enough lamb for the rest of our lives. Thank goodness for that deep freezer we bought back in the days when we thought we'd have enormous excess amounts of breastmilk.

(we really just wanted to buy bulk meat at costco.)

Posted by janna at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)

happy guster, v.2

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Posted by janna at 08:46 PM | Comments (0)

happy guster

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Posted by janna at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

March 23, 2005

Friends

Theo (happy birthday, buddy! the big one!)

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Gabe (daycare friend, sharing the smooth ride... notice the sippy cup holders!)

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Posted by janna at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)

Bathtime confessions

Mr. Gus was carrying around a small plastic bowl with cereal in it, no milk. He gingerly carried it from the dining room into the bathroom and placed it on the toilet seat, no piece of cereal lost.

Then came the accidental dumping of the cereal minus a few good pieces that stuck around.

Zeppo was called in to do what she does best: vacuum.

The bath was filling up, so eventually we put Gus in... with the bowl of cereal.

This is where my confession begins.

It was too damn cute. The bowl, it floats, and Gus, he's fascinated:

Floating bowl with cereal...must eat cereal...but wait, bowl is filling up with water....cereal is floating away...but wait, I have captured some pieces of now-soggy-but-clean cereal...and now I will eat them...and my Mama will not stop me because it is too damn cute.

There are worse things to eat, no?

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Posted by janna at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)

March 18, 2005

no more blood.

I'm totally done with falling and bloody mouths. Twice in one week is enough for the peanut, thank you very much.

The first fall I thought Gus lost a tooth. Thankfully it was just a chunk of Vermont white cheddar. Phew.

The second time, his tooth went down into his lip. Curse you / bless you, damn teeth!

Posted by janna at 09:17 AM | Comments (1)

March 14, 2005

NO, said Gustav.

Some kind of switch was flipped last night.

Gus woke up loving the word NO.

"It's time to get dressed."

NO.

"Let's put your coat on."

NO.

"It's time to go get in the car."

NO.

I love it.
You can just see his brain making all of these connections. Gus is exercising decision-making in it's rawest form... Yes, I will or NO, I won't. Obviously there are many things we ask of him that are required, so the secret seems to be to get him to feel like he's decided to do something.

Yesterday we went to see Granny, whom Gus calls "Nanny."

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We tried to play at a playground, but it was freezing, so it didn't last long.

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Posted by janna at 08:37 PM

March 12, 2005

Weigh in

Gus, you're totally a little boy now.

When I took you to the doctor's yesterday for your 15-month check-up, I was so excited to see how much you've grown.

You're now 25 lbs (up 3 lbs since December, still 50th percentile) and 31 3/4 inches (up 1 1/2 inches since December, still 75th percentile).

I had to change your diaper when we first got there. I put you down, and laughed... there you were, standing in your socks, diaper, and button-down shirt. You looked like Tom Cruise from that movie, what was it...'just take those old records off the shelf...' that movie. God, when you read this in 15 years you'll have no idea what I'm talking about. I really won't know then, either.

You then did something new: you walked to the scale in the hallway and stood on it to get weighed. No more table scale for you!

You're healthy, very healthy....finally. We've had quite a winter with sickness, so it was nice to get a clean bill of health for once. Despite two shots, you took the whole thing very well.

What will you do next??

Posted by janna at 05:28 PM | Comments (1)

Iowa Western Community College

This was my shirt when I was a toddler. That means it's about 30 years old.

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Last time we were at my Mom's house, sorting through all of my stuff (should we keep it? pitch it? oh my god, I can't believe you still have that... that kind of thing). I found this t-shirt and saw it was perfect for Gus right now. My Dad worked for IWCC, so the shirt certainly is sentimental. Not sure when or where or why they got the t-shirt, but I liked the idea of usable sentimentality. Why stay in a box to be looked at every few years when you can worn?

The whole sorting business made me think hard about what I want to keep, what is best to let go...when are too many artifacts a burden. I often struggle with letting certain things go, but I'm really trying hard to do it a little at a time.

Posted by janna at 04:11 PM | Comments (0)

Peapod

Last night was the second time we had Peapod deliver groceries for us.

I'm officially hooked.

After working all day, the last thing I want to do is take Gus to the grocery store. I just want to go home and play with him, not walk around the store for an hour. Weekends? Could do, but again, there's always a gazillion things to do.

I thought I'd miss browsing the aisles, picking out my own produce, checking the expiration dates on the milk...but I don't. Not one bit. And now I have a grocery list in Peapod that I can shop from.

Fan fan fan.

As I was telling a friend recently, I'm giving up on perfection. I'm only striving to eliminate chaos.

Posted by janna at 03:49 PM | Comments (1)

March 10, 2005

I'm not pregnant

But I was surprisingly so in my dream last night.

I don't even know if I could give a straight, linear retelling of the whole thing, but this is what I remember, in no particular order (except where logical, but it is a dream so suspend disbelief):

My water broke. This is the moment I realized I was pregnant.
I instantly started looking for a bag to put Gustav's snacks and toys in, becuase he was obviously going to be coming with me to the hospital, and I didn't have a bag packed for him.
I was in a textbook review meeting because I was suddenly a teacher viewing a sales presentation from a sales rep I know from my McDougal days. The whole time I'm in this presentation, I'm thinking, when should I go to the hospital?
I'm in some other kind of conversation, where I whisper to someone, "My water broke earlier." No one seems particularly concerned about this fact. I start thinking about the fact that I gave birth less than three hours after my water broke, and second births are supposed to be faster, so I should really watch my clock because I don't have much time before I REALLY need to get there. I think I even thought, why not labor a bit at home (or work or wherever I was at any particular moment).

???

I will say this: I was surprisingly very excited at the thought of having a second child when I realized I was about to have a second baby. I take that as a good subconscious sign. I often get caught up in the 'what if' game of bedrest and pregnancy complications, all of which cloud the excitement of the prospect at times. But we have just that: time.

Time makes you forget that kind of stuff, right?

Posted by janna at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)

March 09, 2005

I know it's bad...

...but I had to laugh.

I was trying to feed Gus some dinner tonight, a little couscous with ground turkey and mushrooms and peas, yumminess.

He takes an initial bite.

I try for another.

First Gus turns his head to the left. My spoon follows, peas hanging precariously, threatening to roll off onto the table.

Gus turns his head right, and this time clinches his eyes shut and shakes his head.

At this point you have to tell yourself, in case you haven't understood the signals, that the boy does NOT want your food. I'm very careful about not forcing food on him because that just seems like the quick way to many years of food battles. So far he hasn't starved and I've only had to feed him bagel at 1:30 in the morning once in his life due to a lackluster dinner showing.

(I'm not making this up: Gus wakes up, is hysterical, starts signing 'downstairs'. I take him downstairs. Why thwart language usage? He points to the kitchen, then to the fridge, then to the bagels inside. He got half of a half and was happy. He fell asleep right after. But I digress...)

So after the signals, I put the spoon I was using next to his spoon (two spoons/forks at a meal prevents spoon tug-of-war, which is a nasty game to play). Gus took his spoon, and placed it in the bowl. He next took my spoon, and placed it in his bowl. He then picked up the entire bowl, and held it out for me to take.

As soon as I took it, he looked me dead in the eyes and blew a raspberry.

It's official, folks: I have a toddler, and I love, love, love it.

Today he said his friend Maya's name again and again and again. And yesterday he was going through his list of signs. He's saying something that sounds a lot like 'funny', and really humors himself on telling us little stories, which we naturally find very entertaining and exciting, even if we have no idea what's really being expressed (if only we knew!). He kind of 'asks' before he climbs the stairs...it's almost like I get a one-minute warning in the form of pointing and staring at the stairs before full commencement, but I've got to watch him. Gus still loves to help cook, and gets really upset when I have to put him down for any length of time during the creation of any meal. I'm sure I won't win the 'safe mom of the year' award, but I'm thankful he's at least curious and now says 'hot' and mimics my blowing on food.

Overall, he's just charming the heck out of me.

Posted by janna at 10:49 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2005

Weekend of firsts

First time being fifteen months old

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First time wearing lace-up shoes and walking in them, while wearing no jacket

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First time seeing flowers growing outside this year

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First time seeing a walking Gus shadow

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First time eating yogurt by himself, until he was tired of feeding himself

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Posted by janna at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)

March 04, 2005

Not sure why Gus does this...

...but it sure is cute.

He'll do this on his own.
He'll do this when Zeppo is on the couch and he wants to lean on her.
He'll do this when we drop him off at daycare, against the coffee table.
He's chillin'.

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Posted by janna at 12:16 AM | Comments (0)